Pretty High "Snakes" Just to Play in a Ballpit© Lisa Mongan
Feb 22, 2000
(Collected on the Internet, 2000)
About a week or so ago, a mother took her eager 3 year old son to Burger King for lunch. After they ate their lunch the mother said that the son could go and play on the playground for awhile since he ate all his lunch.
She watched as the boy played in the tunnels, slide and in the ball-pit. The boy played for about 10 minutes when he started to whimper slightly.
The mother asked the boy what had happened and he mearly replied, "Hurt mommy." The mother assumed that the little boy had banged his elbow or something while playing.
They left to return home. A half and hour after they were home, the mother noticed some big red welts on the little boys arms and legs. Not being able to figure out what they were, the mother started to look at them closer. Could be red ant bites . . . she did not know.
An hour later, the little boy died. Come to find out, when returning to Burger King to see if there were red ants in the play area, in case the little boy had an allergic reaction. Burger King employees and herself discovered that there was a family of baby rattlesnakes living underneath the balls in the ball-pit area. She has since found out that this happens more frequently than not. The snakes will crawl into the ball pit because it is dark and warm in there. She knows for a fact that another death has occurred because of this in South Carolina. Please use caution when letting any children play in an outside play area of a fast food resturant, this could happen anywhere. Burger Kings are now building their play area's inside the buildings for more safe environment. This torrid tale began circulating in the mid 1990's. There are some variations of where it takes place, although all of the locations are in the Southern United States, and both Burger King and McDonald's have been mentioned. This legend plays on the secret fears that we all have-bad things happening in supposedly fun "safehavens" like a playground for children. It unfortunately is very true- bad things can indeed happen in places of fun and recreation. But being bitten by a snake in a ballpit isn't one of them. I will not dispute that ballpits have certain dangers. They are generally a breeding ground for bacteria and germs, and many unsavory items have been found in them including dirty diapers and needles. But an incidence of a child being bitten by a snake in one has not happened to date. Burger King released a statement a few years back to confirm that this was indeed legend and had not happened anywhere in the US at their establishments.
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